Signum live with Frontstep’s APS for make-to-order manufacturing

Contract electronics manufacturer Signum Integrated Solutions, based iu Southampton, has gone live with an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system from mid-range manufacturing software developer Frontstep (formerly Symix). The £120,000 system was implemented over a six month period, and includes Frontstep’s SyteLine ERP software, as well as its advanced planning and scheduling (APS), e-business and CRM (customer relationship management) modules. The system was bought to support and control the design and assembly of circuit boards and backplanes, manufactured at the Southampton site for the telecoms, medical and control and instrumentation industries. Says Paul Hoath, Signum’s sales director: “Our operations will be driven by the information that flows through the system . [It] will help eliminate any bottlenecks, increase production and overall enhance customer service.” In fact here, APS is seen as a critical part of the IT support strategy: the software enables real time simulation for ‘what if’ analyses, enabling Signum to respond to and accept customer demands with greater efficiency. The specific advantage is that un-forecast orders can be worked into a production schedule immediately, the APS system ensuring minimum impact on planned works orders. Much of Signum’s manufacturing is make-to-order, so productino lines have to change to accommodate different products. And again the APS knows downtime of machinery for set-ups and the rest, so helping the firm to predict accurately output against orders and optimise work.